


In This Life

by KyeAbove



Series: The Reinforcement Of Agony AU [101]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Angst, Past Character Death, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 22:42:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14942735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyeAbove/pseuds/KyeAbove
Summary: Agony:HellHenry wants to know what happened, and Sammy wants to know about the outside world. If only they could be completely honest with each other.





	In This Life

**Author's Note:**

> This happens not quite immediately after [Sepia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14759709), but pretty close. Enough that Henry and Sammy are still cuddling.

~October 13th, 1963~

* * *

 

“The last date I remember is...some day in September of 1934. Or was it October? Everything had gone to shit, by then, either way.” Sammy started his tale there. “I was playing the pipe organ, when Wally joined me. He expressed doubts about what Joey was doing to us.”

Sammy went silent, and Henry let him remain silent. Henry didn’t even speak himself, waiting as the minutes ticked on, and Sammy fidgeted, and played with a loose thread on Henry’s pants. Sammy’s eyes saw nothing, even as he spoke again.

“Joey got worse, Losing _you_ didn’t help.” The implication of Sammy’s tone was clear. “I remember. It was Abby Eads who first brought it to our attention…I don’t know why I remember her name....but you and Joey were in love with each other, right? You two broke up. That’s why you left.”

Henry didn’t miss the disappointment in Sammy’s eyes, and he hoped he knew the reason why. That his hopes and dreams weren’t him wishing alone.

“We were never together. Only Joey thought so.”

“That...that’s a comfort.” Sammy smiled softly, turning slightly to get more comfortable. “But also not a comfort. He really lost it after you left.”

Henry’s heart broke every time he thought of Joey, miserable and pushed further into hopelessness. Henry might not have loved Joey as much as Joey loved him, but there was no denying he cared. Joey had just tried to take things too far. At least he backed down with a simple ‘no’.

It would forever remain the final straw, but Henry still cared. Henry knew Joey was behind everything, but he still cared enough to want to find out why.  
  
“That Ink Machine? That stupid machine. It started making so much ink. Pipes were bursting, and ruining everything. One of the voice actors actually tried to kill Joey. Would have if someone hadn’t pulled her off Joey. We didn’t see her after that.” Sammy looked Henry in the eyes. “Remember Allison Pendle, and know she almost saved us. That’s what some started saying by the end. Not me. I was too caught up in everything.”

Henry nodded, sagely.

“Remember Allison Pendle.” Henry said this more from Sammy’s benefit, but he knew whoever this Allison was, she was another person he either had to save, or lay to rest.

“I liked her. She liked Susie Campbell more. We could have all been friends if Joey hadn’t set us against each other.” Sammy was shaking, and Henry held him tighter. “We were foolish enough to think Joey would stay better when Casper Hall showed up. Because he did get better. There was genuine emotion in his positive actions.”

“What happened to Casper?”

“Joey killed him. I don’t think he ever made it to the Ink Machine.”

Henry had never met Casper Hall in person, but Joey had talked about him, sometimes. A childhood friend he left behind when he left home. Casper must have showed up, hoping his old friend would still know him, and instead been treated to a terrible fate.

“I want a break.” Sammy expressed. “What is the outside like these days?”

What could Henry tell Sammy? The war and the horror it had brought the world? The oppression? The constant fear of nuclear devastation?

“It’s changed, of course.” Positives? “We have so many great things.We…we have love and trust.” A lie. Everyone was suspicious. Everyone was under suspicion. But Sammy didn't need to know that. “Comics have gotten better. I worked at what’s now called Marvel for a period in the 40s. They've been doing good lately.”

“So you did fine on your own?”

“Yes.” A lie. “I missed you all every day, but…”

Henry was sure Sammy was going to ask why Henry never came back, if he missed them so much. Henry had missed them all. But he got caught up in everything, and a small part wondered if he would have been accepted back at all.

Instead of asking the question, Sammy went on another tale of sorrow.

“Johnny and I were considering quitting when it started. We were inspired by you. We had convinced some of the orchestra that we’d be better off forming our own music group.” Sammy looked miserable, yet wistful. “Didn't happen, but I bet we’d have quite a band now.”

“Nobody will have seen anything like you.”

“Johnny died. I killed him.”

Henry’s grip on Sammy loosened, even as Sammy made some indistinct, distressing sounds, meaning he needed the hug more than anything now.

“Why?”

“It was an accident. We were arguing about Bradley, because...well, we were in the pipe organ room, and…” Sammy shook, his knuckles white as his fingers grasped at Henry’s sweater. “I told him that if he couldn’t take responsibility for _his son_ whether he loved Lucy or not, maybe I didn’t want him as a brother.” Sammy sniffled. “I think I broke his heart. I didn’t mean it...he tried to run off, and I tried to stop him, and there was a scuffle.”

On the wall of the pipe organ room, Henry remembered words on the wall, almost dripping as if they were fresh, but dry to the touch.

**_LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH TO KEEP YOU SAFE_**

It made a lot more sense now.

“I didn’t mean to. But…Henry, there was blood everywhere. I don’t know how it got everywhere.” Sammy banged his head against Henry’s chest. “The last look on Johnny’s face was pure hate, and then he was gone.”

Sammy seemed to really lose it then, displacing any thoughts Henry had about whether Sammy was as innocent as he’d believed. That didn’t matter now.

“I destroyed my family. I killed Johnny. I hurt Matt. I lost Bradley. God knows where Lundie is, or what happened to my sisters.”

Finally, Henry had an opportunity to give some light to this darkness.

“I know that at least Lundie was still around...twenty years ago. I only saw him that one time. You have a granddaughter.”

Tears finally pooled in Sammy’s eyes.

“Really?!” Sammy asked, both excited and devastated at the same time. There was little chance he’d see his son again, or meet his granddaughter, but he was happy all the same knowing they were out there. “What’s her name?”

“Evelyn Samanta. He said one of her nicknames is Sammie. He emphasized that it was ‘ie’.”

Sammy was sobbing at this point, happiness mixing with sadness.

Sammy Lawrence looked not a day past thirty-five, and the weight of those missing decades brought him down, and there was nothing he could do to live them.


End file.
